• If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Preparing

Page history last edited by Chris Werry 5 years ago


 

 

 

Preparing to Teach 

 

Sample Instructor Web sites 

 

These Teacher web pages and web sites contain teaching resources that can be used and adapted. They are mostly for RWS100.

 

 

 

 

USEFUL TEXTS TO PREPARE FOR TEACHING FIRST YEAR WRITING


FROM THE WRITING SPACES PROJECT

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volumes 1 and 2, is a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writing classroom.  http://writingspaces.org/essays and http://writingspaces.org/volume2

Many of the chapters fit our pedagogy well, and can help you prepare to teach RWS100. I've found the following useful:

 

 

 

December 14: Teaching RWS100 - Key Information

I’d like to welcome all you new teaching associates to the RWS lower division writing program, and provide with you some important information about the upcoming semester.

 

1. Meeting with me this week
I’d like to meet as many of you as I can this week. I can meet Wednesday @ 12.30, 1.00 or 1.30, and Friday @ 11.00, 11.30 and 12.00. My office is Adams Humanities 3181. Please let me know which of these times work. If you can’t meet this week (I know some of you are leaving town shortly) you can catch up with me early January. I’ll be in my office – send me an email to set up a time.


2. Spring Orientation January 13th

On Thursday January 13th we will host an orientation to cover key elements of teaching RWS 100. It’s strongly recommended that you attend. I will also be available on Friday January 14th to field questions and discuss the course. We will send a schedule soon.

3. ITC Meetings/RWS796A/Internship
Next semester we will meet once a week on Wednesdays from 2.00 - 3.00 to plan classes, discuss pedagogy, professional development, etc. There will usually be light homework focused on preparing teaching material for your class. This meeting counts as your teaching internship, and will count as a 3 unit course (RWS796A). You can defer the units - some students who already have a lot of units choose not to sign up for the class for credit, and sign up for the class in a later semester in order to get the units at that time.


4. Texts for next semester

  • RWS100 course reader. A course reader with some handouts, short readings and introductory material will be available in the book store the week before classes start. The book store will provide an instructor’s copy to you free of charge.  An online version will be sent to you soon, but you can get a good sense of what will be in it by looking at this semester’s version. https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/f/RWS_Handbook_Fall2010_combined.pdf
  • Thomas Friedman, "The Power of Green" http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/opinion/15iht-web-0415edgreen-full.5291830.html?pagewanted=print  This text will be included in the RWS100 course reader. It will be used in the first major writing assignment of the semester.
  • Praxis: a Brief Rhetoric, Fountainhead Press, 2009. This short handbook helps introduce rhetoric, argument, rhetorical analysis and rhetorical strategies. Copies are available in the RWS office, Adams Humanities 3138. This will also be ordered for your class.
  • They Say/I Say: The Basic Moves of Argumentative Writing. Graff et al.  Norton, 2009. This short handbook provides guidance and templates for writing about arguments.  Copies are available in the RWS office, Adams Humanities 3138.. This will be ordered for your class.
  • Outliers: the Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell.  We have ordered this, but it’s taking longer than expected to arrive.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get you a copy in the next week.  This will be ordered for your class.   
  • Food Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner.  You can watch the video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyagLY1Nem8 A transcript is also available. https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/f/Food+Inc+Transcript.doc

 


5. Consult the RWS100 Wiki to see sample syllabi, assignments, and course activities
.  See http://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/, and in particular Course Reader, Overview, Assignments, Sample Schedules, & Syllabi  and First Weeks: Introducing Concepts & Applying to Short texts  These pages should give you a good idea of the  trajectory the course will take (albeit with different readings). We will send you updated model  syllabi, assignments and other materials soon.

6. What you should do over the break
- Check your email – more info and materials will be sent soon.
- Read Friedman’s, "The Power of Green," Praxis: a Brief Rhetoric, and do your best to get through most of Outliers: the Story of Success (I’ll get copies mailed to you as soon as they arrive). Take a look at the RWS100 course reader from this semester, and Food Inc.
- check out the wiki, http://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/

If you have any questions please call (office: 619-594-3882, cell: 858 837 2923) or send email.

Best,
 
Chris Werry
Lower Division Writing Program Director

 

 

December 20: Getting a "Loaner" Copy of Gladwell from Bookstore

Our order of Gladwell's book _Outliers_ is taking longer than expected to arrive at the bookstore. I just called them and they say there are copies of it in the
general reading section that you can get as "loaners." This means you buy the book, keep the receipt, and when your desk copy arrives, you
return the desk copy and get a refund. This means you'll be able to mark and keep the copy you buy.

It's possible, albeit unlikely, that _Outliers_ might only arrive the first week of classes. So getting a loaner may be a good option if you'll be in San Diego over the break. I'll let you know as soon as I hear more.

 

 

January 05: 2011 Updates & Orientation info

 

Hi, I have some updates for you.

1. ORIENTATION THURSDAY 13TH JANUARY

We have an orientation next week on Thursday the 13th. I've also scheduled a couple of extra hours on Friday the 14th for those who can make it (see attached schedule). I'm sorry we have to start so early - it's due to the vagaries of this semester's calendar. Please let me know if you won't be able to attend so I can adjust the bagel and coffee order.

For the orientation I'd like you to prepare a few things. First, read the attached short texts by Bleich, Kristof, Rifkin. As you read, look for the argument, claims, evidence and strategies.

Second, come prepared to talk about what you plan on doing in the first 2 weeks - what short texts you'll use, what you'll do in class, etc. Don't worry if you aren't sure - we can help. For some ideas, see https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/f/01+BIG+OVERVIEW+Course+Concepts+Activities.doc

Third, make sure you've read Friedman's "The Power of Green" (attached), particularly the first 3 pages. Please note down any questions you have about using the text in class, plus any preliminary ideas you have for teaching the text.

Lastly, please come with a draft syllabus. There are samples on the wiki you can use as guides if you wish.


2. TEXTS
Copies of Gladwell have arrived and you can pick them up in the RWS office. If you received a loaner from the bookstore you may want to get the copy from the office and give it to the bookstore so you can get your money back.

Print copies of the RWS Reader will be available next week. An electronic version is available here:  https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/f/RWS_Handbook_spring_2011.docx

3. THE WIKI
I've updated and reorganized the wiki, so you may want to take another look. There's still some more things to add, but we'll let you know about these at orientation.

I'd like you to join the wiki, so you have a username and password, and we can make some pages private. You'll receive an invitation in the next hour asking you to join.  Please accept. Your username will be your email, and you will set your password. If you don't receive an email, check the junk mail folder.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Chris

 

 

January 11: Sample syllabus and assignments, orientation location, short texts, final assignment


Couple of last minute updates and clarifications.

1. The orientation on Thursday is in AH 3110 and starts at 9.30.

2. We've made quite a few updates to the wiki, so you may wish to take a look. You should get yourself a username and password (you should have received an email invitation) so that you are automatically notified when changes are made.

3. I've attached a sample syllabus and schedule (by Erin) and assignment sequence (by me). You can use parts or all of these, adapt them, or go in another direction.

4. In the first 2-3 weeks you will use short texts to introduce students to basic course concepts. This wiki page provides you with a lot of examples:
https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/w/page/8280627/First-3-Weeks

The 3 short texts I emailed you (op-eds by Bleich, Kristof and Rifkin) can be used to introduce the basic terms of argument, and there's material for teaching these on the wiki.  We'll also be using these in the orientation.

 

But you don't have to use these short texts in your class, or only these texts. You can use the short texts in the Praxis book. For example, the Praxis book
contains the a number of texts you could use, including the Obama election speech (if you are interested in using this speech, you may also find this site
useful - http://changingminds.org/analysis/obama_victory_speech.htm This contains video of the speech, the full text, and more detailed analysis
of it - akin to "charting".)

There's also The FrankenReader - a collection of excerpts from popular rhetoric/composition handbooks you may find useful for teaching 100 and 200. It includes a section on short texts that are "charted" (the main moves and strategies are described). The table of contexts is listed on the wiki,
https://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/w/page/28587698/FrankenReader but you'll need to go to Blackboard to access the files (there's also a print copy in the RWS office you can photocopy).


Lastly, if you want to take you class in more of a traditional debate direction,  there are 3 very useful sites.
A) IQ Squared, by PBS, presents Oxford-style debates on key topics, and often features some famous names. There's videos and transcripts, and some good debates on the issues we're tackling this semester. See http://intelligencesquaredus.org/, and also http://intelligencesquaredus.org/index.php/past-debates/global-warming-is-not-a-crisis/ for a debate on global warming.
B) Procon.org - maps out common claims on multitude of issues, plus background info, analysis of source reliability, etc. Here's the one on climate change http://climatechange.procon.org/#arguments
C) Debatepedia.org - eg http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Is_climate_change_chiefly_human-caused%3F

 
This is probably far more than you'll ever want/need, but I list it in case there's anything there  that really grabs your fancy, or which you may want to use in future classes.

 

 

Comments (1)

Matt Feigner said

at 3:55 pm on Jan 12, 2011

Chris,

Indeed I missed most of all these announcements.

Additionally, though it's probably not rocket science, a tutorial or some sort of introduction to this site by way of a demonstration tomorrow would be very helpful (I don't even know how to get to this page from the 'home' page). If we're in a "smart" classroom I hope you'll consider.

Thanks,
Matt

You don't have permission to comment on this page.